It's time to believe in Tua, Dolphins

The Dolphins are on a roll in the AFC East, and Tua Tagovailoa looks like he could be the real deal. But do Mike Florio and Peter King see Miami as a real playoff threat this season?

Video Transcript

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MIKE FLORIO: Time for PFT on Yahoo Sports. He's Peter King, I'm Mike Florio. All the top stories in the National Football League. And there is a team that is emerging in the AFC. You know, we had thought Chiefs, Titans, Steelers, Ravens, not necessarily in that order. The best teams in the AFC. And now here come potentially, possibly the Miami Dolphins. Peter, do you see the Dolphins as a team that is maybe on the fringes of becoming a true contender? Not just a team that may get into a seven team or possibly eight team playoff field, but a team that actually can make a run at winning the AFC.

PETER KING: Well, Mike, in the last four weeks the Miami Dolphins have won three games by double digits and then won a squeaker against a good team on Sunday on the road. I think, you know, this is the team I picked to win the AFC East at the beginning of the year. Now I had no idea how they would win it or what they would do, I just liked the direction, I like the arrow, I thought the arrow was pointing north for them.

And I think what has happened is that this a team that even last year when the entire world was telling them, don't buy into these dumb decisions by Chris Grier and Brian Flores to denude your team of a great player on the offensive side of the ball, Laremy Tunsil, and a great player on the defensive side of the ball, Minkoff Fitzpatrick. You know, just stay the course and we'll be OK.

Well, as we all know now, in the last 12 months they're 10 and 7. They've got the best record overall in the AFC East in that time. And I kind of look at what they have done as a team as a sort of a clarion call to those who might say that you can't build on the fly. Especially in a division with one overpowering team in recent years. They're proving otherwise to that.

MIKE FLORIO: 3 and 1 are the Dolphins against the NFC West, believed by many to be the best division in all of football. And if that's the case, Dolphins are doing pretty well against the best division in football. And that sets up well for them the rest of the way. And I'm a believer now. I'm a believer in Tua. I still worry about the injury history. He's a year removed from the fractured hip and when that happened one GM told me, look, you got three years at the college level, three lower body injuries for a mobile quarterback, that's not a good sign.

So if he can continue to protect himself we saw, you know, it's that eyeball test. Joe Burrow passed it. Justin Herbert passed it. Tua passed it and we get to see Tua against Herbert and against Burrow over the remainder of the season, which is just awesome to have those match ups among these guys taken in the top six of the draft. But I do think the Dolphins are a contender and they could end up taking the AFC East.

If they don't at a minimum, Peter, they're getting in the playoff field and I just don't think they're a team that you're going to want to play with what Brian Flores is doing with that defense, what the offense is capable of. If you're one of the best teams in the AFC, I think you'd prefer the Dolphins end up being someone else's draw in the wildcard round of the divisional round.

PETER KING: Hey, look, four the last six games they've allowed 17 or less. They've rekindled the career of Emmanuel Ogbah as one of the NFL's sack leaders now at midseason. And Mike, I think you've raised the issue, the larger question about Tua Tagovailoa and the fact that there's a decent chance they're going to have a top five or six pick from Houston from that big trade last year.

And look, I think it's unanswerable now but I do think that this a team that will have a lot of power. Because let's say they have the fourth pick in the draft and let's say that there are three or four really good quarterbacks that teams want. They could even get richer by trading that down. That is obviously assuming that Tua doesn't get hurt the rest of this year.

MIKE FLORIO: And now that the team is playing well, could we just go back to the old uniforms please? The ones they wore back in the 70s. The ones they wear once in a while, which are so much better than the ones they wear. Maybe that'll happen sooner rather than later. Who knows. For now though, we'll say goodbye and see you next time for more PFT on Yahoo Sports. Have a great day.